​

We’ve been waiting for one since 1989The earth’s crust like a pregnant stomach, swelling too slowly to see it movingBut once the due date passes, the two weeks that follow are full of tensionShe gives birth and even though the father knew it would happenHe never expected to be a papa so soon

A 7.3 on the Richter scale,Bears crawl out of sidewalk boundaries and every organic egg cracks simultaneouslyGolden folding chairs melt into pepto bismol poolsthe side of a bent fork scrapes them off the edge of plate tectonicsInto a plastic ziplock bag to be frozen and heated up later when mother isn’t home in time to make dinner

The house was full of childrenCanned food castles towered over their headsas the husband and wife smacked their lips against each otherswhile the structure collapsed on themThe dog and the baby and the sister were all played by the same girlSo only four funerals had to be attended

In the tsunami of broken asphalt, there was a paradeBalloons lifted by the atmosphere in their lungsThe people who saw it from planes remarked about the dust that rose beneath themhow it descended from their eyes and settled in their stomachs